Getting 4GB RAM sticks in the UK

Quitch

Veteran
My board can handle up to 16GB of RAM, and being the obnoxious git that I am I want to fill it with 16GB of RAM, since it already has the best graphics card I can give it and the top-end dual-core processor it supports... so why not the RAM too?

Plus I'm a nerd and I want to see what Vista's superfetch does.

Alas, my plan appears to be scuppered by the total lack of 4GB PC8500+ DDR2 sticks in the UK, I cannot find them anywhere. Kits with 2x2GB, sure, but I don't want that. Hell, at worst I'd like 8GB with room to upgrade.

Has anyone run across such things, or are they still mythic beasts?
 
Don't worry, that's the VERY memory I ordered 4 of, making the same shameful mistake. Alas, I didn't notice until it arrived so now I get the joy of ordering more memory and going through the returns process :)
 
I don't believe your problem is one of locality, but rather one of a technical limitation. IOW: there's no such thing as a 4GB 1066 DDR2 DIMM. If you must have DIMMs that large running at such a speed, you'll need to move to DDR3. DDR2 just isn't made to operate at such high speeds in such high capacities.
 
Is there any 4GB DDR3 sticks out on the market ? All I seem to find is kit.

Some of the new X58 mobo seems to support 24GB of memory, but I can't find any 4GB DDR3 stick to fit it with. Or do DDR3 slots able to take DDR2 sticks ? I found 4 x 4GB DDR2 for less than $500. I don't need the bandwidth so much as the capacity.

Quitch did you managed to install 16GB on your rig ? How is it ? Is it stable ? I surely prefer desktop mobo instead of server mobo that need fully buffered and ecc ram (alot more expensive). But without being fully buffered and ecc can large amount of memory make the rig unstable or create some other problems ?
 
No, I run with 8GB since it didn't appear that 4GB DDR2 sticks would exist. I suspect DDR3 will see them eventually though.

It run stable, though I had to undervolt the northbridge from v1.10 to v1.05 to get it to resume from sleep without blue screening. It passes Windows Memory Diagnostics and Prime95 without fault.
 
Thanks Quitch. I am afraid to go with 16GB DDR2, it seems to be pushing the limit and on current mobo my upgrade path if I needed more memory is limited. While DDR3 seems to be design up to 16GB DIMM. So 4GB DIMMs shouldn't be a problem in that way. However it seems 4GB DIMMs DDR3 is not in demand at the moment so no one is making them, you can custom order it but it will be really expensive :(

I am just puzzled why people are not demanding 4GB DDR3 DIMMs, if people who are moving to i7 for workstation now, wouldn't they at least want to put 8-12 GB of memory instead of 6 GB. Wouldn't 4 GB DIMMs be a better option for upgrade path instead of 2 GB DIMMs.
 
I thought all i7 motherboards had triple-channel memory, so to make the most of it, all 6 dimm slots should be populated, thus allowing for 12GBs using 2GB dimms. How did you figure the platform would top out with only 6GB?
 
I thought all i7 motherboards had triple-channel memory, so to make the most of it, all 6 dimm slots should be populated, thus allowing for 12GBs using 2GB dimms. How did you figure the platform would top out with only 6GB?

Not all i7 mobos have 6 DIMM slots. Most have 4 still.
 
Not all i7 mobos have 6 DIMM slots. Most have 4 still.

Complete opposite... the only 4 slot i7 board on Newegg right now is an Intel, which is all sorts of funny. It's not the cheapest board and Intel is limiting their own processor, such a brilliant move...
 
Complete opposite... the only 4 slot i7 board on Newegg right now is an Intel, which is all sorts of funny. It's not the cheapest board and Intel is limiting their own processor, such a brilliant move...

My mistake. ISTR pre-launch speculation/previews showing more boards with 4 DIMM slot configuration.
 
I've been trying to find 4GB DDR2-sticks but haven't been very lucky. The speed of those memory sticks doesn't matter to me, I just want the 4GB :) Only brand available seems to be Kingston but it's just darn expensive. Kingston Valueram 4GB 667MHz DDR2 CL5 costs about 300€, compared to similar 2GB sticks which you can buy for less than 20€ :smile:
 
I thought all i7 motherboards had triple-channel memory, so to make the most of it, all 6 dimm slots should be populated, thus allowing for 12GBs using 2GB dimms. How did you figure the platform would top out with only 6GB?

They are selling 1GB DDR3 stick and 3GB DDR3 kit. The new MSI and Gigabyte motherboard support 24GB, you'll need 4GB DDR3 stick to get that max.

I don't think you need to fill up all 6 slots either. You only need to fill the correct 3 slots for 3-channel memory.
 
It seems 4GB modules are still quite rare, despite all major memory manufacturers claiming to have the necessary 2gb chips in production. It seems no ddr3 4GB module is widely available at all, and from ddr2 only the kingston 4GB modules seem to be available in decent shops. Those are either ddr2-667-cl5 or ddr2-800-cl6 (I've never really seen cl6 ddr2 memory before...).
 
Heh, I have a machine here with a dual opty MB (socket-F so I could presumably use the new Shanghai [45nm] cores). Anyway, it's got support for 32 GB of memory. As fun as that would be however...

If you thought 4 GB DDR2 was hard to find and expensive. Try 4 GB Registered ECC DDR2. :p

As is I'm happy with 16 GB. :) At some point I'll try out a RAM-DISK. But I'm not sure what for on that machine as it's running my file server/media server/media center. Don't think anything on there would benefit from a RAM-Disk.

Damn, just now looked at those Shanghai core Opty's. Wow, they use a lot less power than my dual Opty 2222 (3.0 ghz). Hmmm. 8 cores at 2.7 ghz and lower power use or stay with 4 cores at 3.0 ghz and higher power use.

And yes I know Core-I7 is faster, but in this case I'd only have to replace CPUs and not CPUs, MB, memory...

Regards,
SB
 
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